Recently an anime convention came to town and I decided to spread the
good word that is Rosenkreuzstilette. Now, what would be the best way to
do so? I could set up a booth. But the logistics, time, and money just
ruled that out. What could I do to show everybody my fandom of this
video game?

How about a t-shirt? That shouldn't be too difficult. (oy-vey.)

Making the images was pretty easy. Just took awhile to find a font that
approximated the same look as the NWO logo from the 90's. (Bradly Hand
ITC, I believe.) Did up a couple of images and went to a T-shirt shop my
brother recommended.

And spent a good couple of hours being told what I wanted was too time
consuming and very expensive. There were two other logos I made that had
screen shots from the game as well. They said they would have to break
down the images to put each color on a separate layer. About $20 a
layer. You've all played the game, that would be way too much money.

I commented that I've seen kiosks in the mall that would take your
picture and put on mugs and t-shirts. They said they couldn't do it and
nobody in the area could.

My brother recommended another shop and they said the same thing. (I'm
sensing a pattern.) However, they told me to check out a shop in the
mall. The one I rarely go to because the only store I ever went in
closed.

So, I gave them a call this time. They said yes, come on down. Bring all
my material and they would help me out. Got there, the lady downloaded
everything to her computer and said to comeback in a week because they
were backlogged. A week later they showed me the final product. I was a
little disappointed because it didn't turn out as good as I hoped. But
hey, I ain't spending that kind of cash on a video game.

Paid for my shirts, (which now occupy space in my closet). Then went
home and finished up that alternate music soundtrack.

(insert videos here)

Okay, so what the hell does an alternate music
track have to do with an Anime Convention? I'll get to it.

There were several goals I set up for myself:
First was to use songs of the same styling. What I mean by this is go
play Megaman 9. Capcom used the Megaman 2 Stage Start in a game that
uses the same feel as Megaman 6. I can hear the difference.

Second was to not use the most obvious songs. Like Toadman for Sichte's
stage.

Third was to be able to justify the use of the
song. Not just because I liked it.

(actually insert videos here)

As you can see, I epically failed miserably.

Yes, I wound up using songs from all across the
Megaman universe. From Complete Works, Powered Up, Arcade, Maverick
Hunter X, to name a few. After about a day of trying to find a CW
replacement for Replay Grolla, I gave up and went with Zero's Sacrifice
from MH X. I discovered It really didn't matter if the styles didn't
match, as long as it sounded close enough. (I admit to being a little too anal about
such things, like safe sex.)
So after that fateful decision, the whole thing came together rather
quickly. Except for Talk Tears. I had forgotten about it until I did the
last play through. CRAP! I could just leave it, but that isn't my style.
So I go back into the Megaman music folder. By about this time I had
heard all these songs several dozen times and was sick of them. I'm
tired, cranky, and needed to make a call on the porcelain phone.

When I got back, playing through a random happen stance of random
shuffling in Windows Media Player was Alia and Gate from MMX6. "Heh,
That'll do."

Admittedly, I did use songs that I would have to contort myself into
pretzel to justify. Like using Chargeman in Merkle's Stage. I could
spend at least another 20 paragraphs comparing the similarities in
attacks, or I can simply say, It's my favourite song from MM5, and I was
desperate not to use Skullman or Woodman.

One thing I was trying to do for at least the regular stages was to use
a song from Megaman One through Eight. I do have the soundtracks for
Nine and Ten, but I don't find them interesting, and hey, Splash Woman
is just too damn obvious. (Yes, I did use Toadman for Sichte's stage.)

Also, I actually used Geminiman for the Anime Convention, not Frostman
Demo. Oh yeah, The Anime Convention, what does any of this have to do
with the Anime Convention? Darn, ran out of time for this week.

Rosenkreuzstilette Combo PackNight before the Anime Convention.

SO now I'm done with the music. Changed them all
out, screwed the pooch on a couple. Got the lengths correct to cover any
looping issues, screwed the pooch on a couple. Even made sure the audio
levels were the same through out, really screwed the pooch on that one.
(I got one sore pooch.)

There's more. I decided to decode ALL the files in
the alt-music version of Rosenkreuzstilette I'm putting together.

I did this purely for bonus reasons.

Hey, Why don't I throw in all the various versions
of Rosenkreuzstilette? Well? Can't think of a reason why not. The easy
part was finding the original Japanese and English Hack. They were in my
video games folder. Just a quick copy paste. Lucky me Rosenkreuzstilette
2: Demo 2 was nearby so in it went. Now finding the original
Rosenkreuzstilette Demo and Rosenkreuzstilette 2: Demo 1 was much
harder. I finally found them on some very disreputable places that
(unlike other
sites) shall remain nameless here. Scanned them with anti-viruses,
tested them out, scanned them again.

Next comes Nero. Burn, Baby, Burn! Until I get to
disk 6. (Insert farting noise.) Apparently my DVD Burner took a total
crap on me. Fortunately I have a backup. You see, for some reason, a
movie will quit on me in one DVD-Rom, I just put it in another a keep
going. So I finish up burning ten copies of the Rosenkreuzstilette Combo Pack DVD

Of course I checked each and every disk to make
sure it worked. (I just realized something:
I never checked to make sure that they worked in XP, the most commonly
installed OS in the world, what a crack head.)

I can kinda sorta guess what may be going through
your mind: "He's made copies of the game, and is going to a convention.
He's not seriously going to SELL them?"

No, of course not, I gave them away.

(I just had a Hotaru moment. I
went through all that trouble to find those demos only to realize the
two places I should have looked was erka:es and dlsite.

However, can't seem to find that original demo of
Rosenkreuzstilette 2 anywhere that won't fire off my anti-virus.)

The Anime Convention, finally.

My alarm clock goes off right at the time I set it
for: the crack of noon. I decided not to make the same mistake I had
made previous years of going first thing many hours too early; and wait
in line for too many hours with just the really fanatical people. You
know, those that spent the previous night working on the most mind
numbing painstaking detail of whatever costume they are wearing.

So I show up at the convention center with my
newly minted T-shirt:

And the 10 DVDs I spent most of the night making in mind numbing
painstaking detail.

Overall I had a good time. There was a lot of side areas set up for
people to show off whatever. A couple of people reading palms. I was
tempted, only to see if they could see that time when I was a kid and
was bit by a Doberman. (My Dad now has a
couple of min-pins that love to chew on my hands.)
There were plenty of those that would do some caricature of you in the
anime style they were hawking. A couple were even using using the same
style used in a certain Megaman Clone. Then I wondered into a discussion
on drawing comics based on a simple word.

That word: taco.

I couldn't help myself, I had to chuckled under my breath. I came in at
the very tail end of the class and it had ended almost as soon as I got
there. (I seem to have that effect on
people.) A guy who could hear me asked what
was so funny. I told him about it and another girl joined in and we
remembered the glory days that was Bob and George.

Of course, any shill without even one ounce of self-respect would twist
the conversation onto themselves and the wares they are hawking. So I
told them all about my web site and Rosenkreuzstilette. The girl said
she had heard of me, she then promptly left. (I seem to have that effect on
people.) That meant she didn't get a
copy of the Rosenkreuzstilette Combo Pack. One guy did take a copy.
(One down, 7 to go.)
This guy was bored fan. He actually drove about two-hundred miles to be
there. I only drove about twenty. After that, I left a couple copies of
the DVD on the table in the back.

I went back to the dealer's area to check on a table that I had left a
couple of copies on. (Forgot to mention
that, didn't I.) They were gone. Double
checked every garbage can in a 50m radius to make sure they hadn't found
their way in to one. Since I was next to the dealer's room, I went in.

I was pretty disappointed. Most everybody was selling just Deathnote,
Naruto, Lucky Star, and Pokemon merch. The rare occasion I saw mecha, it
was, of course, Gundam. What is it with Gundam? Does Big Box have some
sort of death grip on Transformers? Anyway I did manage to give away
another disk to a dealer. She liked my shirt. I think she actually
translated it.

Later on I somehow got into a conversation with a group of kids, boy was
that a hard conversion. I don't know how teachers can handle it. But I
managed to get through my presentation and hand out two more copies.

Walking around some more I got my attention put in a figure four leg
lock by the AMV room. I just sat down and watched it for an hour. One I
remember was the Deathnote opening with Lucky Star characters. Picture
Konata catching a bullet. It ended so I went back to the comic
discussion room to check on the disks, they were still there. I left
them and so I left.

Total episodes of the original
Battlestar Galactica watched: all.
Total episodes of the new Battlestar Galactica watched: 2.The first and last ones

Me? Giving away free copies of Rosenkreuzstilette? The guy that has
shown nothing but utter disdain for those that even mention the name of
a site where you can download it illegally? Have I so turned into such
that believes it is so important to get people to play
Rosenkreuzstilette that he would cheat Womi and Isemiya
out of the hard earned cash they so richly deserve? And resort to
diplomacy against a horde of
people so mad they start busting down my door?
(Actually, that's normal for around here.)

OF COURSE NOT! Read on.

Just after getting home from the convention, okay, several hours after
the convention (I stopped by a bookstore to pick up the latest copy of
Oh My Goddess,) I immediately went to DLsite.com to buy 8 copies of
Rosenkreuzstilette.

Count 'em, 8.

It is a very laborious process. There's a lot of stuff you have to type
in. I shop at the US Mint all the time, they don't ask for so much.
(Probably because they already know.) To
make matters worse: there's no option to buy more than one copy at a
time. Adobe will let you buy multiple copies of Flash at once. Not
DLsite. (Of course who in their right mind would
buy 8 downloads of the same game? Fortunately for Womi and Isemiya I'm not afflicted by a
right mind.)

AT first I made things worse for me. I closed my browser after the
purchase was complete. On the third go through I accidently clicked on
continue shopping, or one of the Rosenkreuzstilette logos and found I
could just put the game into the shopping cart again. And when I start
to fill out the form, the last entry drops down and all I have to is
click on it.

I finished with number 5 (is alive!) and go through the process with
download 6. Guess what? It didn't go through. Said my credit card was
invalid.

WHAT THE FRAK, man!

I tried and tried again. Nothing, same error message. The next day, I
try to fill up my gas tank, I had to go inside and get money out of the
ATM to pay for it. DLsite had CRASHED MY CREDIT CARD!

After awhile, I was able to get to my bank and tell them my sob story.
They said they couldn't help me even though their name is on the card.
But they would try none the less. They called up the help number on
card. After giving the tech support guru my mom's maiden name, my dad's
mom's maiden name, my mom's mom's maiden name, my dad's mom's mom's
maiden name, a sample of blood, and the right's to any progeny of their
choosing. (They originally wanted the web site, I
said nuh-uh.) So they re-activated my card anyway.

To test this, I went home and finished buying the last three copies of
Rosenkreuzstilette. Worked like a Swiss, car.

The reason my card was turned off is that the people I pay through the
card to protect it saw that since someone was buying a lot of copies of
the same thing off a web site that also sells some rather unsavory
material is a clear sign that the card had been stolen. I'm glad they're
there looking out for me and earning that 56 cents a month I pay them.
(No kidding!)

An interesting note: despite the nature of the material sold at
DLsite.com, they are an upstanding company to work with. I have gotten
zero spam as a result, and I haven't gotten any mysterious charges
since.

A Slight Deviation in Plans

Another Anime Convention rolled into town. So I dig out the RKS T-shirt,
(the white one this time,) and dig in the back of my car and found the
last two copies of the Rosenkreuzstilette Combo Pack that had been
sitting under the Burger Bling wrappers fermenting in 90 degree heat for
two months.

Bought a ticket and went in. (NO one will be
seated during the suspenseful buying a ticket and going through a door
sequence.) I was very impressed with this one. I had been to it
years ago, but left only after a half hour. (I had just been to
Sakura-Con prior, hard to measure up to that.) The one years ago was
just one hallway and no dealers. This time it was much bigger than the
one I went to in June, many dealers, one guy actually had a Transformer,
and the age of the females in chain mail bikinis was at least 20, and
tall, and slender.

While walking around, I managed to talk one person into trying out the
Rosenkreuzstilette Combo Pack and left one on a table by the front door.
Hours later of staring luridly at the 20-somethings and getting my ass
kicked at Super Mario World it was time to leave. I made sure to look at
the table and the disk was gone, not into the trash cans. I only checked
the several local ones, not every one, don't want to seem too weird.
Which is actually easier than you think despite the circumstances of
being at an anime convention.

So now I can brag about having an 80% success rate. But first,
dlsite.com.

Just Give 'em the Money.

"...I myself would probably do the same thing, but I
think I'll wait and purchase one copy of Freudenstachel should it ever
see a release on DLsite. (I'd by multiple, but I'd rather donate 8
copies worth of money to [erka:es] themselves, since it would not
consume as much time.)"

The point I got from this comment from
Mr. Justin Satiable
that's it's easier, simpler, cheaper, and smarter to just pay Isemiya and Womi
directly. He's right. I have no argument with that logic. I'm not going
to.

However, I have reasons for why I did the things I did. First of all I
had two goals: One was to get more people playing Rosenkreuzstilette.
Two: get more people buying Rosenkreuzstilette.

While Isemiya and Womi no doubt would appreciate a direct
donation, It doesn't really accomplish my goals. I'm not saying don't
give, go ahead. It doesn't translate into a group of people buying the
game, therefore doesn't encourage Isemiya and Womi to make
Rosenkreuzstilette 2.

"Thanks for your support, but you're the only one playing the game, So
we can no longer spend the resources in development of this franchise."
I'm just imagining this is what they would say. I'm pretty sure this is
the standard response RFX Interactive gives to those badgering them for
Lady Sia 2.

I could always go to DLsite and buy ten copies and keep them for myself.
While that gives Isemiya and Womi their money, I'm just too honest and won't inflate the numbers like that. Still, it
doesn't get more people playing the game.

Why is that one component so important? How do you think this whole fan
community sprung up? One guy found the game. Talked about. People
reading his forum saw it and got the game and played it. They like it
and did some fan art. Some guys that did fan art, and wrote fan fics saw
it. Wrote their own fan fics and other people on those sites got the
game. One of these guys had a spare hard drive and sold it an auction.
And Bob's my uncle. (Really.)

No doubt that me and a bunch of others had an effect. I always felt there
was more I could do. I was going to the Anime Convention anyways. Might
as well and see if I can get anybody to listen to me proselytize about
Rosenkreuzstilette and at least take a copy to shut me
up.(I could
say something snarky about those that go do to door and try and get
people to read their magazines, but I'm sure they [one] come to this
site too and I don't need to drive off any more fans.)

I found an interesting tidbit: more people (one) had heard of my site
than had ever heard of Rosenkreuzstilette. I found a new audience. And
maybe, those 10 people, will go out and tell ten more.